US excludes Turkey from F-35 production program

The United
States turned off Turkey from the F-35 fighter program after Ankara bought
Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine,
citing the statement of the White House.

According
to the report, the F-35 will not be able to coexist with the missile complexes,
since the Russian air defense system will collect intelligence data about
American aircraft.

“Unfortunately,
Turkey’s decision to purchase Russian C-400 air defense systems makes it
impossible for the country to continue to participate in the F-35 program. F-35
fighters cannot coexist with the Russian intelligence-gathering platform, which
will be used to explore their advanced capabilities,” said Bely house.

Also in the
US administration, they added that they had worked with Turkey for many years
and offered Ankara to adopt the Patriot air defense system instead of the
Russian C-400.

“Turkey’s purchase
of Russian anti-aircraft missile systems undermines cooperation between the two
countries, which has been supported for 65 years,” Washington believes.

Recall, the
team of US President Donald Trump has prepared a package of sanctions, which
should be adopted in relation to Turkey for receiving from Russia components
for anti-aircraft missile systems S-400.

Earlier,
NATO has expressed concern about the possible consequences of the purchase of
Russian anti-aircraft missile systems S-400.

On July 16,
Ankara took the tenth aircraft with the C-400 components. Deliveries began on
July 12th. Turkey plans to open the ZRK purchased from Russia until April 2020.